Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes - August 7, 2023

​Parks & Rec Minutes
August 7, 2023 @ 7pm
 
Tonight’s meeting will be a hybrid meeting – both via Zoom and in person at the Township building.

Call to Order

Board Members Present: Brett Klukan, Helen Eckel-Wiener, Anne Duzan, Liz Malone, and Isabel Clark.
Staff Members Present: Abbey Swan
Professionals Present: NA
Public: Sam Wiener, Tom Parr, and Chris Parr

The Parks and Recreation August 7, 2023 agenda was posted on the Township website and at the township building on August 4, 2023. Agendas were made available to the public at the meeting.
The 2023 Parks and Recreation meeting schedule was published in the Daily Local News on December 27, 2022.

Public Comment - NA

Minutes approved – June 5, 2023

Old business
Summer Series Recap:

• Puss in Boots – Movie night went well. We followed the same set up, nice crowd.
• National Night Out – It was a great event – parks and rec members all helped out. The police and commissioners appreciated us helping out and would like to team up again next year. The size and budget were perfect. There were some issues with the fireworks – we need to have volunteers to guard the fireworks area going forward so that people don’t enter the “danger zone.” Next time we’ll put up more caution tape and recruit volunteers for it. Pollinator safari’s weren’t a huge hit due to time constraints so we may want to re-think that or simplify the citizen science kit. Liz created some awesome Caln coloring pages which were a hit. We also needed a second table to hold everything. For community day we’ll bring some large board to do polling for parks and rec events as well as comment cards to collect feedback.
• Clean Up Crew Recap – It was really hot! Trash was hard to find due to recent rains and overgrowth. The Parr’s were hugely helpful with coordinating the day. We have our own Litter Crew Ahead signs now and are happy to keep going.
• Town Tours and Village Walks Recap – The event was great! We did some debriefs to discuss how to improve for future events. Parking was an issue we’ll need to work out going forward. The turnout was HUGE which was awesome but presented some challenges. In the future we recommend pre-registration or tickets to control the crowd. Abbey is going to get feedback from the solicitor about establishing a 501c3 for the farmhouse.
• Community Day Table Planning – September 9 – We’ll work on collecting feedback about events that people would like to see. We’d like to be in the same spot as last year. We will try to find cardboard pots that people can decorate and plant some native seeds in. Abbey will look for some that don’t include peat. Liz is all set up for the art show, we’ve gotten 5 entries. We plan to hang them along the baseball fence near the table. The Coatesville Library has offered to display the winners or all of the entries depending on the number.

New Business

• 2024 Budget Recommendations Discussion – New pads in Dawkins around the basketball poles, resurfacing the basketball courts at Dawkins, pavilion rooves at Dawkins, park benches (Lloyd and Dawkins). Anne led a discussion of adding frisbee golf – maybe at King’s Highway. The group would like to get some bus prices for next year too.
• Liz suggested adding more art events – a paint night in the park or plein air event, etc. A recycled art project for clean up day or Earth Day would be fun too. We’d like to incorporate more art in the park.
• Fall Events Schedule – September 9th is Community Day, Clean Up Crew is September 16th, Halloween Party is October 28th (Rain date 29th), Tree lighting  on December 4th. The group also agreed to invest in a sleigh-replacement for the tree lighting. We discussed making a lighted pathway out of PVC tubes. We need to light up the singers. Everyone will bring their decoration ideas for the November meeting.
• Hockey Rentals – United Sports has approached us about renting the hockey rink to host a street hockey league. The group was generally in favor of moving forward, but we need to figure out the details. It needs some work, so we agreed that maybe they can pay to update and maintain the rink and they could use it for free. Parking would need to be worked out so there aren’t too many competing events. The group voted to suggest that the BoC move forward with making an agreement with United Sports to use the hockey rink.
• Citizen Science Kits – Helen suggested creating our own Meadow Kits for people to use on their own in the meadow park or pollinator garden.
• Membership(s) to PRPS (Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society) – Helen joined the organization and the group agreed to budget to join it for next year.

Adjournment

Respectfully submitted,
Abbey Swan
Parks and Recreation Recording Secretary